Being Anti-Racist With Tech: Devices, Platforms and Resources

Purpose & objective

The purpose of this session is to demonstrate how technology can help educators in their anti-racism journey, but also how technology can (unfortunately) sometimes reinforce stereotypes and unintentionally harm our learners. In this session, we are on a mission to explain and utilize the intersectionality of anti-racism and educational technology.

Technology intervention used in this session will be devices (laptop, phone, tablet) for both the students and the teachers in the classroom, Microsoft Forms/Google Forms (online form websites, used for ease of grading, data tracking, and creating engaging questions), Microsoft Teams/Google Classroom/Class Websites (all hubs for posting, sharing, and creating information to share to students), Pear Deck (a digital presentation and engagement tool, used for presenting information and engaging students in analytical thinking), and Microsoft OneNote (a note-taking app, used for organization of documents, lists, and notes).

The primary model employed in this session will be an inquiry learning model. Attendees will learn about how to use technology to cultivate anti-racism in classrooms through the experience of listening to lesson suggestions, solving open-ended problems in those lesson suggestions, and arriving at solutions in many different ways. Attendees will also have the opportunity to lay the foundation for their own lessons and existing technology platforms or adjust lessons or existing platforms to fit this model if they so choose.

Evidence of success will be measured both during and after the session. The metrics during the session are the teacher’s ability to create intellectually ambitious tasks with technology with anti-racism in mind, and use technology to create effective scaffolds and supports for learners. When the 2020-2021 school year begins, a survey will be sent out where each educator will reflect on their future ability to engage students in active learning with technology based off of the session.

Outline

First, welcome and introductions will occur. This will be in a peer-to-peer interaction format, where the audience will think-pair-share about themselves and then share with the group. Afterwards, the presenter will introduce herself. Then, following five minutes will be reserved for information on why this topic is important and also the data that supports this. This will be a device based activity, as teachers will log into their devices and participate in this portion using Pear Deck (a platform like PowerPoint where slides are displayed on individual screens). After that, the presenter will share strategies working with 4 different populations (PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) and how using an anti-racist lens directly benefits students regarding educational technology choices, platforms, resources, and activities. This is more lecture based, but will have opportunities for peer interaction regarding lesson application and strategy suggestions. The following 40 minutes of the time will be spent as a peer-to-peer interaction workshop, where educators will work either in partners or in small groups on modifying pre-existing or future lessons to incorporate technology with the purpose of making the lesson more inclusive. The last ten minutes will be reserved for questions/comments regarding the session or the session topic.

Welcome and introductions will take five minutes. Information on why this topic is important and also the data that supports this will take five minutes. For 30 minutes, the presenter will interactively share strategies working with 4 different populations (PK-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) and how integrating technology through an anti-racist lens benefits students. The following 40 minutes of the time will be spent as a workshop, where educators will work either in partners or in small groups on modifying pre-existing or future lessons to incorporate technology with the purpose of making the lesson more inclusive. The last ten minutes will be reserved for questions/comments regarding the session or the session topic.

Supporting research

Helping teachers and principals confront their own racism: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/new-book-helps-teachers-principals-confront-their-own-racism/

A Call To Action: https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/a-call-to-action-for-white-educators-who-seek-to-be-anti-racist

Algorithms of Oppression: https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/